State Senator and Candidate for Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, asked Governor Tim Kaine to call a special session of the General Assembly to address the issues that were created by the recent Supreme Court ruling on Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts.
Here is a little background on the Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts case, according to Oyez:
Luis Melendez-Diaz was arrested while making a cocaine sale in a parking lot in Massachusetts. At trial, bags of the cocaine alleged to have been distributed by Melendez-Diaz were introduced into evidence along with drug analysis certificates prepared by the lab technician who analyzed the drugs and identified them as cocaine. A jury convicted Melendez-Diaz of distributing and trafficking cocaine in violation of Massachusetts law. Melendez-Diaz appealed, arguing that the State’s introduction of the drug analysis certificates violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him under the Court’s ruling in Crawford v. Washington. Crawford had held that so-called “testimonial” evidence cannot be introduced at trial unless the defendant has a chance to cross-examine the witness providing the evidence. Melendez-Diaz characterized the lab analysis as testimonial and argued that Crawford required the lab technician to testify on the results. The State argued that Massachusetts had previously held, in Commonwealth v. Verde, that lab reports were not testimonial.
The Massachusetts Court of Appeals rejected Melendez-Diaz’s claims in an unpublished opinion, referring to them in a short footnote as “without merit.” The Massachusetts Supreme Court also denied his appeal.
Cuccinelli has a right to be concerned and submit his request for a special session of the General Assembly, due to the implications that will come from this ruling that could directly impact Virginia. First, this decision will force prosecutors to suspend drug and drunk driver prosecutions. Currently, Virginia law allows the certificate of analysis as proof of the drugs involved in the case or blood alcohol content.
“The first priority of Government is public safety. It is with this in mind that I call on Governor Kaine to convene the General Assembly as soon as possible to fix the problem with our notice waiver statute in the Virginia Code. While Virginia’s law was ruled constitutional by our Virginia Supreme Court, that ruling was a close 4-3 decision, and it is on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. While I share our Attorney General’s opinion that Virginia should prevail under the current statute, the U.S. Supreme Court will not reconvene to hear this case until at least October, and the case is clearly a close call at best,” said Cuccinelli.
“Commonwealth’s Attorneys are on the front lines in the war on crime, they need to be secure in knowing that all Virginia’s statutes are constitutional and that their prosecutions will not be undone because of Melendez. And of course the state has an obligation to the defense, to ensure protection under the 6th Amendment. I believe the only way to ensure constitutionality is to conform Virginia’s notice waiver statute to Georgia’s, which the U.S. Supreme Court said is constitutional in the Melendez case. Anything less I believe would be a disservice to Virginia’s Commonwealth’s Attorneys and its law enforcement community,” concluded Cuccinelli.
I agree! There is more – come see my blog entries at Virginia Right on this question.
Sandy Sanders